Bangladesh is going to get five million doses of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine in the second batch from the Serum Institute of India by the end of February or the first week of March.

According to local media reports, Bangladesh health secretary Abdul Mannan said there will be no problem in distributing the doses because the government has decided to extend the interval between the first shot and the second booster jab to eight weeks from four weeks.

He said, "We will be able to conduct the vaccination drive in an orderly fashion because we have time."

Pune-based Serum Institute, the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world, is supplying 30 million doses of the vaccine, COVISHIELD, to Bangladesh where Beximco Pharmaceuticals is its exclusive distributor.

In addition, to the two million doses which were sent as a gift from the Indian government, Serum Institute sent five million doses last month in the first batch of the import.

Mannan said, “around 50,000 health workers in 1,010 hospitals are administering the doses in the country.